


What A Tragic Attraction

by Totoro (Ultron)



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/M, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-03 08:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5283965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultron/pseuds/Totoro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were always there to save each other from all the different monsters they'd faced over time. Now in the peaceful new world they have to save each other from a different kind of monster: loneliness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What A Tragic Attraction

**Author's Note:**

> I'm transferring my fics from FF to my A03. This is the only fic I've wrote for a video game but I love Hope/Lightning so much. When I first wrote this it had no dialogue (my an artistic choice) to make it feel more distant and sad and as if you were a part of it but just watching afar. I liked the feeling it gave but some people didn't so I changed it. The original version is still on FF. Anyway, hope you all enjoy.
> 
> The title of this fic comes from a lyric in the song "Teenager in Love" by Neon Trees.

Hope Estheim would always be there for Lightning no matter what. He'd been with her during their time as l'Cie, during the fight with Orphan, during the literal end of the world. Just as she had saved him, it was him who saved her in the end. They were always there to save each other.

In the new world though it wasn't fal'Cie or Bhunivelze they had to save each other from; it was themselves, their emotions, their fears, their memories. It was that reoccurring nightmare, that almost complete shutdown, that feeling that no one could understand. It was that loneliness that came with never really being able to start over because they could never really forget all that had happened.

Oh course they weren't the only ones who had memories of their lives before, all their friends did and so did a few other people in the world, but Hope and Lightning had went through more than any of them in the end. There would be little things here and there that would trigger memories at different times. When it came to dealing with it Hope was better at it than Lightning. He could put on a happy mask for the most part and bear it until he was home alone to dwell on it. Lightning's way to deal with it was to become distant.

That was until she decided to give Hope a call in the middle of the night asking if he would come over and talk with her for a bit. Hope knew Lightning well enough to understand the tone in her voice was from her having just had another bad memory. He was surprised though that she wanted to talk to him though. Lightning never wanted to talk about it. She did everything she could to distant herself from any memories of it. She only wanted to be referred to as Claire. She tried to stay away from cities because they made her think of Cocoon and spent more in the countryside. She even had threw away a survival knife that Serah had got her for her 21st birthday in this world so that she'd never have to look at it and think about when everything had really started in the old world.

Hope couldn't blame her though. While he was more able to talk about most of it with others there were things that he didn't like to say too much about. He hadn't told anyone but Aoede the interviewer girl and some of his closer friends about his depression and how he would hallucinate about Lightning until he literally was on the edge of insanity. He didn't like to talk much about his parents because anytime someone would mention his mother, as she was alive in this new world, the only thing that could pass his mind was watching her fall and die in the old world. That's why he never really went home much; he couldn't look at his parents without memories of what happened to them in the old world.

When he arrives at her house she opens the door with a bottle of wine in her hand. She's not an alcoholic but as they say alcohol helps numbs the pain and when it comes to remembering the past there is plenty of that. 

He raises his hand in a shy wave. "Hey, Light." 

She frowns. "I told you it's Claire."

"Some habits are hard to break I guess," he says with an awkward laugh as he rubs the back of his neck.

She doesn't say anything, just shakes her head and sighs as she lets him in.

As he walks toward her living room, she heads toward her kitchen. "Do you want something to drink?" she asks.

"Uh, I can't drink yet."

Lightning just chuckles. "You do remember you're 27, right? You're technically older than me in this world. I'm barely old enough to drink."

Hope laughs as he sat down on her couch. Sometimes he thinks he's still that little 14 year old who loved fireworks and his mom more than anything. Sometimes he forgets he's old enough to do a lot of things that he thinks he can't.

Suddenly, Lightning comes back into the room, handing him a glass of wine while she keeps the bottle for herself. He stares at his cup for a moment and then takes a sip. It's sour when he first drinks it but it has a nice aftertaste so he continues to sip it as he looks over at her, waiting for her to begin talking.

She doesn't say anything though for a while and it's just them sitting and drinking. Hope can't help but enjoy the silence a little bit. It's nice to just be around Lightning in general. Her presence always makes him feel comfortable.

Finally she speaks up. "I...had a nightmare last night. I sacrificed myself and was all alone in the Unseen Realm." She pauses for a moment and he can tell it's all replaying in her head. "It was so...dark...so empty. I don't think I've ever been so afraid."

Hope doesn't say anything; he's so surprised that she's opening up to her and he wonders if the wine has anything to do with it because it's definitely making his head foggy and he wonders if it's having the same effect on her.

He listens intently as she continues telling him about her nightmare. She mentions the chills it gave her, how loud she tried to scream but the sound couldn't be heard as if she was in a black hole, how she eventually just curled up, ready to die alone.

Then she tells him something that makes him perk up in surprise. "Sometimes I feel that same loneliness here in this world." She then turns to look at him. "Do you ever get that feeling?"

He doesn't know what to say at first because he can't get over how open she is being with him. He knew him and Lightning always would have this connection that would keep them intertwined in life and he's finally feeling like maybe she's embracing it. Maybe that was why he was the one she wanted to talk to at 2 am. Maybe it's because she thinks that he's probably the only one who can truly understand what she's going through.

And he is. "Yeah, I-I've felt it," he begins, "I-I've felt that loneliness that comes when you feel no one else can understand your pain." That's when he stared straight into her eyes. "You know though you're the only person I think can understand it though. Maybe we don't have to have to battle that loneliness alone, Light."

They stare at each other for a moment and maybe it's the alcohol, though neither feel out of it, or maybe it's just that understanding look in each other eyes but it only takes Lightning a moment to lean in toward him. "I told you it's Claire," she whispers against his lips before grabbing him in a kiss.

Hope had never kissed a girl before but Lightning's kiss is electric and he can't help but wrap his arms around her and pull her against him.

It doesn't take too long before they're in her bedroom, tangled in a mess of touches, kisses, heat, and noises that weren't totally words. It's odd but they both understand what lead them there. They both feel that emotional "touch" from each other but they want that physical touch to help them fight the loneliness.

Hope may have been 27 but when it came to things like this he might as well as been 14 again. There's awkwardness and a lot of blushing on his part; he's getting embarrassed because he feels like such a kid.

What makes up for it though is that it makes Lightning laugh. A real, happy laugh. It's like music to his ears because he knows that he'd caused it. He'd made her smile. Maybe for a moment he'd made her forget what that had caused her to bring him over that night.

For the night nothing else exists but the two of them. There was neither a past to dwell on nor a future to hope for. It was just the present and that was all they needed.

That night is the best sleep either of them have ever had. There are no nightmares, no dreams, just an emptiness in their minds and they'll take it for now.

Surprisingly, Hope is the first one awake the next morning. He looks beside him and notices Lightning laying there facing him, looking more at peace than he had ever seen. Her hair is on her cheek and he wants to reach over and knock it off but he feels that if he did she would shatter like glass and he just can't do that.

He glances over at the clock by her bed. 10 am. He's missed work and he knows his boss will be pissed but it doesn't matter. He's just surprised they'd slept in so late. Lightning was usually up at about 7 on the dot, probably part of her military training with the Guardian Corps sticking with her. 

But the Guardian Corps doesn't exist here and she has no reason to be up early if she doesn't want to and he hopes maybe this could be the start of them finally living their lives in the new world like they should be lived. So he just rolls back over to look at her and smiles softly.

Their demons will never truly be defeated but they can live with that because so long as they battle it together they can at least make it through another day.


End file.
